Thrilla in Manila was the third and final boxing match between WBA, WBC, and The Ring heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier on October 1, 1975 for the heavyweight championship of the world at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines. The venue was temporarily renamed as the "Philippine Coliseum" for this match. Ali won by technical knockout (TKO) after Frazier's chief second, Eddie Futch, asked the referee to stop the fight after the 14th round. The contest's name is derived from Ali's rhyming boast that the fight would be "a killa and a thrilla and a chilla, when I get that gorilla in Manila."
The bout is almost universally regarded as one of the best and most brutal fights in boxing history, and was the culmination of a three-bout rivalry between the two fighters that Ali won, 2–1. The fight was watched by a record global television audience of an estimated 1 billion viewers, including 100 million viewers watching the fight on closed-circuit theatre television, and 500,000 pay-per-view buys on HBO home cable television.
1975Oct, 1
Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines.
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Events on 1975
- 26Jun
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Two FBI agents and a member of the American Indian Movement are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; Leonard Peltier is later convicted of the murders in a controversial trial. - 15Aug
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is killed along with most members of his family during a military coup. - 15Aug
Yasukuni Shrine
Takeo Miki makes the first official pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by an incumbent prime minister on the anniversary of the end of World War II. - 27Aug
Dili
The Governor of Portuguese Timor abandons its capital, Dili, and flees to Atauro Island, leaving control to a rebel group. - 1Oct
Ellice Islands
The Seychelles gain internal self-government. The Ellice Islands split from Gilbert Islands and take the name Tuvalu.